Post Dawntrail Vibes – Future expansion ideas?

Hey guys,

I know things have been a bit rough for the game lately. It’s definitely seen better days, but I still think it’s good for us to share feedback, as long as it’s constructive and not just tearing things down or spitting venom sideways. Whether it’s about jobs, systems, or content structure, discussion helps. But I also wanted to throw out a more fun topic:

Now that Dawntrail is behind us, what do you think the next expansion could be about?

Personally, I’ve always been into Heavensward lore, dragons just hit the right fantasy vibes. It had a great mix of heroism (a bit cliche at times lol), sacrifice, and chivalry, and it was all decently done. Ever since then, I’ve been kind of low-key obsessed with the idea of going to Meracydia. There’s still that little thread with Midgardsormr that never really got explored, and it left that lingering “what if.” What if we could pick up that story again? Or what if we got to see what the world was like when he first came to Eorzea? Yoshi P even hinted at the possibility of time travel, probably he was not being serious lol but hey, who knows? What other civilizations existed back then? Were there magic based kingdoms? What happened to them?

Sure, the Allagans were around, and we’ve seen plenty of them, but I really liked how Shadowbringers handled the Ronkan Empire lore. Yeah, it was on the First, but it was refreshing to see an ancient civilization that wasn’t just another demented bunch trying to conquer everything. It felt different, and I’d love more of that kind of storytelling.

Honestly, I’d be all for an expansion that leans more into classic Final Fantasy themes, magic, floating continents, lost civilizations, more dragons ofc, the whole deal. It feels like it’d be a great way to reconnect with the series in an old school fashion.

Anyway, just wanted to share my thoughts. What about you? Any guesses or hopes for where we might go next?

Please keep it civil down there! :)

Without spitting venom... urggh.

Well. I'd be on board with Meracydia, though we know so little of it that it's hard to feel hyped.

I'd also have been interested in a Void themed expansion, what with all of the world building it had, but I feel like Endwalker post-patch already cashed in on it. Similar thing happened when I imagined a 'Fall of Empire' sort've expansion around five years ago.

At this point, I'd be interested in just being isekai'd to a fresh shard where nobody knows the WoL, with a whole new set of rules to play by, with fresh world building all around. Maybe some new and interesting characters, along with some major repercussions for the Source. No Scions. Just, a dedication to building some new characters. Shadowbringers 2.0 but, hopefully, even better. I'd just, honestly, regardless of where we end up, want a place where I actually care about even the background characters.

I think that with some new suspicious group interested in interdimensional travel, a journey to a new reflection isn’t out of question. Although personally I would definitely prefere something set on Eitherys, maybe a trip to Meracydia or Hingashi?

The nicest thing I can say is I don't really think about it anymore so as to not be disappointed. Hopefully a departure of the redundant formula and approach to releases that has been stagnating the game for years. I would like to see Meracydia, we don't have Egyptian theming and its close-ish to it.

I definitely want to go to Meracydia… I wouldn’t mind some shard travel later on in the new arc, however long it goes. But much as ShB was my favorite expansion, I want to explore some of the interesting areas we haven’t gone to on Etheirys first.

Overall, even though the DT story got more interesting to me after Alexandria (mostly because of the Krile stuff I had been waiting for!), I’m getting kinda tired of the ultra high-tech vibe. I want another dragon expansion… I know the Allagans had their own advanced tech, but I want to get back to a more fantasy feel for awhile, and dragons will always pull me in. I hope as we explore the key more, it delves into a more magic & mysticism feel. Occult Crescent is giving that a little, but it’s not as story-heavy as the regular MSQ, and I have other issues with that content.

Meracydia seems like the obvious choice, but that could also be why they end up sending us elsewhere. They like to throw a curveball now and then.

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Originally Posted by savarna

Hey guys,

I know things have been a bit rough for the game lately. It’s definitely seen better days, but I still think it’s good for us to share feedback, as long as it’s constructive and not just tearing things down or spitting venom sideways. Whether it’s about jobs, systems, or content structure, discussion helps. But I also wanted to throw out a more fun topic:

Now that Dawntrail is behind us, what do you think the next expansion could be about?

Personally, I’ve always been into Heavensward lore, dragons just hit the right fantasy vibes. It had a great mix of heroism (a bit cliche at times lol), sacrifice, and chivalry, and it was all decently done. Ever since then, I’ve been kind of low-key obsessed with the idea of going to Meracydia. There’s still that little thread with Midgardsormr that never really got explored, and it left that lingering “what if.” What if we could pick up that story again? Or what if we got to see what the world was like when he first came to Eorzea? Yoshi P even hinted at the possibility of time travel, probably he was not being serious lol but hey, who knows? What other civilizations existed back then? Were there magic based kingdoms? What happened to them?

Sure, the Allagans were around, and we’ve seen plenty of them, but I really liked how Shadowbringers handled the Ronkan Empire lore. Yeah, it was on the First, but it was refreshing to see an ancient civilization that wasn’t just another demented bunch trying to conquer everything. It felt different, and I’d love more of that kind of storytelling.

Honestly, I’d be all for an expansion that leans more into classic Final Fantasy themes, magic, floating continents, lost civilizations, more dragons ofc, the whole deal. It feels like it’d be a great way to reconnect with the series in an old school fashion.

Anyway, just wanted to share my thoughts. What about you? Any guesses or hopes for where we might go next?

Please keep it civil down there! :)

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I sincerely hope they throw us a curveball and put Meracydia off.

Either sending us to a far away planet in The Source's universe or to another one of The Source's reflections.

They can still pull off what you're asking going that route as well, which I'd be totally cool with.

Heavensward is my all time favorite expansion, closely followed by Shadowbringers. So I'm hoping they'll pull off something with that level of passion, love, and quality.

That said, FFXIV getting it's own Wings of the Goddess type expansion would be cool to. I wouldn't mind getting to visit and save the distant past from FFXIV's own version of Reverse Flash or something, thereby saving the present and preserving the future.

I really hope we go to Meracydia.

And investigate how Calyx was able to get intimate knowledge of primal summoning by going to the birthplace of primal summoning in our world.

I would like it to be Meracydia or Koshu, but that's under the unrealistic assumption that the writers wouldn't completely waste it. What I'm expecting is a bad remake of Shadowbringers on some other shard.

Meracydia is the baseline expectation I have, although I wouldn't be too surprised if it gets put off an expansion. 6.X and DT are just warmup for how much of this story arc will be based on interacting with / exploring the reflections.

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Originally Posted by Khryseis_Astra

I definitely want to go to Meracydia… I wouldn’t mind some shard travel later on in the new arc, however long it goes. But much as ShB was my favorite expansion, I want to explore some of the interesting areas we haven’t gone to on Etheirys first.

Overall, even though the DT story got more interesting to me after Alexandria (mostly because of the Krile stuff I had been waiting for!), I’m getting kinda tired of the ultra high-tech vibe. I want another dragon expansion… I know the Allagans had their own advanced tech, but I want to get back to a more fantasy feel for awhile, and dragons will always pull me in. I hope as we explore the key more, it delves into a more magic & mysticism feel. Occult Crescent is giving that a little, but it’s not as story-heavy as the regular MSQ, and I have other issues with that content.

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I agree, I think we could benefit from a fresh air of 'Fantasy'. Dragons in fact are a perfect fit for the theme, I have always felt fascinated by Midgardsormr's lore and I strongly believe SE can pull it off with the same level of MSQ execution like they did with Shadowbringers.

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Originally Posted by Shinku_Tachi

I sincerely hope they throw us a curveball and put Meracydia off.

Either sending us to a far away planet in The Source's universe or to another one of The Source's reflections.

They can still pull off what you're asking going that route as well, which I'd be totally cool with.

Heavensward is my all time favorite expansion, closely followed by Shadowbringers. So I'm hoping they'll pull off something with that level of passion, love, and quality.

That said, FFXIV getting it's own Wings of the Goddess type expansion would be cool to. I wouldn't mind getting to visit and save the distant past from FFXIV's own version of Reverse Flash or something, thereby saving the present and preserving the future.

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I like this! I wouldn’t mind the time travel aspect, I just think WoTG in FFXI was kind of a mess and not the best example to go by for both, in terms of lore and content. I remember running around on empty maps with background battles for hours, feeling like a headless chicken given the lack luster lore and so little to do. The maps were not memorable nor held replay value other than for a few NMs. They tried to fix it later, but ended up overdoing it, overwhelming us with too much content across the board, which just made the whole thing even harder to follow. This was my cue to put FFXI to rest at the time.

Hopefully, FFXIV Devs can learn from that if they ever go in a similar direction.

Aerslaent and Farreach. It's gotta be partly wintery there. Yoship wanted wintery, right? 8P

And absolutely Meracydia.
Why did the Hellsguard progenitors go there first(Revelation Rock please)? What did they find? And why did it shape their faith and culture like it did?.

No bias. X3

It's hard to think of what I want from future expansions, I know what this game is capable of but I'm wary after DT.

I would like a general intriguing mystery, something localized to wherever we are. Being localized I feel will give us a chance to truly build a rapport with the area and the characters we'll meet in that space.
I would also like more puzzles, because I genuinely enjoyed that addition, even if they were super easy.
I would love interpersonal drama or romantic tension.

I don't need another ShB, I just want the same quality.

I'd like it to be more fantasy-focused than sci-fi, and would love it to be somewhere on the Source (Meracydia, Ilsabard etc). I really don't have any interest in the reflections and I'm a bit tired of everything seemingly being connected to them - I know we'll inevitably explore them more, but I don't want this entire second arc to be taken up entirely with reflection-hopping.

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Originally Posted by Turethir

I'd like it to be more fantasy-focused than sci-fi, and would love it to be somewhere on the Source (Meracydia, Ilsabard etc). I really don't have any interest in the reflections and I'm a bit tired of everything seemingly being connected to them - I know we'll inevitably explore them more, but I don't want this entire second arc to be taken up entirely with reflection-hopping.

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I agree 1000%! Meracydia has so much untapped refreshing potential on the fantasy theme that I think this game needs post DT. I think the reflections were a cool concept at first, but it's starting to feel like a crutch for storytelling and besides (even if underexplored), there's a whole world on the source to explore and I also believe, there's potential of new characters outside the Scions, that could be centric for the WoL.

On the source: Mericydia, Corvos, and some of the remaining chunks of Ilsabard that are still hidden behind the clouds. There's a lot more to Garlemald than just the capital (that is now in ruins.)

On another shard: The 4th, the 8th, and the 11th are still around, besides the 9th which is now partially fused with the Source. I suspect that one of those three will be going through a similar crisis as the First and the 9th did, and it'll be up to the Scions to travel to that shard (using the gate and the key) to stop the plot.

Thankfully, no time travel involved this time, ala the First.....

I hope they just tell a simple story with good characters and dialogue. And don't fit every character to just act according to the "themes" they insert. I want a human story, something that we can relate to.
A lot of Final Fantasies have a central love story, have us witness that in 8.0 with all sorts of political intrigue and drama happening in the backround.

No more space, no more super universes and edges of the universes and spaceships and pew pew lasers. Just give us a good story without a secret "zone that will surprise you" at the end where the story just disconnects completely from what we've been doing before.

ISEKAI

https://media.tenor.com/0ukleGUKZlcA...se-winning.gif

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Originally Posted by savarna

I like this! I wouldn’t mind the time travel aspect, I just think WoTG in FFXI was kind of a mess and not the best example to go by for both, in terms of lore and content. I remember running around on empty maps with background battles for hours, feeling like a headless chicken given the lack luster lore and so little to do. The maps were not memorable nor held replay value other than for a few NMs. They tried to fix it later, but ended up overdoing it, overwhelming us with too much content across the board, which just made the whole thing even harder to follow. This was my cue to put FFXI to rest at the time.

Hopefully, FFXIV Devs can learn from that if they ever go in a similar direction.

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Aye, I'll concede to that you're 100% right. A whole mess, and also released while only being half finished, lol. It's just the only MMO thing I could think of similar to what was was trying to describe. If they do time travel with FF14, I feel like going into the far distant past would be better than just 20 years (like WotG), especially after

we opened 2.0 leaping forward 5 years

.

If I was to still want anything and to give this another chance for 8.0...
I would want a much darker tone, a return to politics or philosophy that deserve their name and not as background premises, with an adult audience in mind. (Aka less kingmaking with contests, more the politics of ARR and HW, but something new.)

Characters that have their own stances and motives and emotional landscapes and act upon those, not upon themes or what the standard plot would need. Yes, especially if that will break the formula and make it so the scheduled fight at level whatever doesn't happen and they need to get creative and find something else. Actually put the character writing first. I want people being themselves to have natural consequences. We're grown-up. I don't want to be told "This way of thinking is good/bad and people who disagree are wrong and then bad things happen."
Let someone have a debate and fundamentally disagree on issues, but also don't like, force conflict if it wouldn't actually happen just because it looked good in marketing or because "we always have this-and-that at this level".
And if we take the Scions, remember who each of them is and why people liked each one in the first place. Bring that out again, yes even if it clashes with "the theme".

For a setting - for my part, no more real-world map filling please. I actually like the shards; I'd love to see a new truly otherworldly place. Pick an elemental imbalance again and world build around that from scratch in every way. The nature, the way cities are built, the problems, the societies, the mentality - like the First had Light and so their societies involved stasis and calcification, with Eulmore as the poster child, and the Void has Dark and it's so dynamic it extends to identity and has them cannibalise each other and blur. (I loved those glimpses in first Void visit before the story focus shifted.)
I'd want something actually fantastical and different and creative. No trying to be our world nor trying to be an older FF setting. Something new that we don't recognise but that makes inherent sense with how it's built up.

I honestly don't care where we go.

As long as they can create interesting story and good characters I can care about, it can be whatever.
That creation part is currently in question.

I hope we get taken away to another shard again, preferably without 90% of the scions in our pocket.